Reply to Do you blame your parents for not pushing you?

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Do you blame your parents for not pushing you?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]OP, you mentioned you are a single mom.  What is your SES compared with her peers at her school?  Are you struggling, while other families are very affluent? Does your daughter envision herself with a career, or is she somehow disenfranchised?  What kinds of coursework and activities are her close friends doing?

I grew up poor in a wealthy suburb.  In the early grades I was in GT and then accelerated courses in Middle.  I was not one of the popular kids.  My parents didn't push me; not a conscious choice as they didn't know how to anyway.

In Middle, I really started to notice a difference between myself and my more affluent classmates.  I started hanging around with a group of kids who I thought were more like me- kids from modest circumstances who weren't necessarily planning on college.  I did not envision myself being successful.  I began to drop accelerated/honors courses when they began requiring more work.  By the end of sophomore year, I was doing the bare minimum.

My mom was uninvolved, but dad did want me to go to college.  I did not have any regular activities, having quit everything any time it was at all challenging, and was doing pretty minimal coursework, but my 31 on the ACT gave me some options, and as I got closer to graduation the gravity of what would happen if I DIDN'T go to college began to dawn on me.  So I did improve things my junior year, and I went to college, but to this day I still have a hard time envisioning myself being really successful in a career and taking the steps to get there.  College was kind of a bust.  I graduated, but not in a good major and having accomplished nothing notable.

So yeah, I wish I'd been pushed, and from an earlier age - but being able to envision success and feeling worthy of it may have helped me more.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics